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Oct. 6 D. Johnson interview

10/6/12: Davey Johnson talks about preparing his team for the postseason and Gio Gonzalez shares his thoughts on starting Game 1 of the NLDS

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Q. Davey, where did you get a chance to watch the Cardinals Braves game last night and what did you make of the infield fly call?

DAVEY JOHNSON:Yeah, that's a tough call. The umpire, when he put his hand up under the ball, that's when he made the call, and it's a borderline call. A little bit further out, you're not going to get the double play from there. The only advantage would be maybe you take a fast runner out of second base. Tough call.

Q.How are you feeling and do you think the last couple days, it's still lingering?

DAVEY JOHNSON:Well, I'm feeling a lot better. I got some feeling in my leg. I had about an hour on the table where they jabbed me and put some November oh cane and cortisone to ease the inflammation. I feel a heck of a lot better. I have no pain, just a little stiff back. St. Louis weather isn't helping it but I'm going to be fine.

Q.How is Morse doing, and also, any surprises on your roster?

DAVEY JOHNSON:Not really. You know, Morse is doing fine. He came in the day after last day and he's just had probably a little spasm in his hamstring, he's good to go and work out. Everybody is in really good shape. You know, the roster I think we are going to hold that off so nobody gets an edge on us. I told the guys all of the guys that were going to be activated for it. There was some tough decisions, but rather than since I haven't gotten their roster.

Q.How do you feel like Gio and Jordan are handling the extra rest, and what do they do Thursday or Friday to keep themselves on track?

DAVEY JOHNSON:You know, pitchers nowadays throw every day. That keeps them really sharp. This time of year, you know, a few extra days with all of the excitement, they have bullpens, regular bullpen they had for Gio for Sunday and Monday. The other guys will do the same thing. Most of them will throw and have two days off. They are both feeling great.

Q.Are you ready to announce who will go in games three and four for you?

DAVEY JOHNSON:Yeah, I've already told the guys, it's going to be Jackson in 3 and Detwiler in 4.

Q.In talking to Lach (Marcel Lachemann) he said that each year with TEAM USA it seemed like you were more convinced you wanted to come back and manage again. How much did TEAM USA play in coming back and managing again?

DAVEY JOHNSON:Well, I don't know, obviously I enjoyed managing USA. That was a lot of fun. Lach, last time I talked to Lach was Strasburg had a no hitter through six and I'm saying, I hope he gives up a hit because I'm hooking him after seven. No, I love baseball, and just I mean, I was with the Nationals for a couple years and then strange thing happened, Riggleman resigned, so that was kind of the perfect fit. Seemed like as the head of my family looked like it was okay, so decided to come back.

Q.How are you handling this experience comparing to maybe the ones you've had in the past in the post season? What's different about it or is anything different?

DAVEY JOHNSON:Well, the thing that's different about it is the preparation is a lot tougher with the new format with the wild card, because you kind of you start your throwing program to set up your pitching for whoever you're going to play, and two clubs are totally different, Atlanta and St. Louis. It's no different. I mean, the preparation that you have for a ballclub comes in 160 games in a regular season. You really don't do anything different. I don't want to act any different. It's going to be business as usual. We've got no trick plays we're running out there. Going to try to miss some bats and try to hit some pitches and out score them.

Q.The bullpen with Clippard, do you think the rest will serve him well?

DAVEY JOHNSON:He's had a great year. He's a helluva competitor, and he's my he was my closer for a long time. Storen is actually my closer. I really don't like to say who is my closer because sometimes matchups may favor one or the other. But you know, it's going to be business as usual, and the last week, there was a little bit of changing roles because of setting up with Clip and closing Storen.

Q.Their offense, St. Louis, predominately right handed. I wonder how much did that concern you with Gio and Detwiler?

DAVEY JOHNSON:Well, if you look at the records, right handers have just as much trouble hitting Gio as left handers. When he's locating his fastball, and he's hitting the low side of the plate, he's got a devastating curveball, I don't care if they have all right handers out there. He's tough. And with Zimm, same way, pretty consistent both sides. So I mean, it's really an easy choice. Gio would have hung me if I didn't have him going first. Gio had one heck of a year. I think he was lowest hits per inning and most clubs stack their clubs with right handers. I admit, St. Louis has some awfully good right handers in the middle of the lineup, but you have to make good pitches.

Q.When you look back at Gio's body of work, how has his development and what he's become compared to what you expected in February?

DAVEY JOHNSON:Well, he's been fun to manage from day one. They are all different, but Gio, I've never had a pitcher get on me the day he was pitching because I wasn't smiling. Gio has the same temperament no matter how big the game is; he just enjoys going out there and expressing his talent. And he's the same personality, I mean, he gets embarrassed. He's slipped and fell on the mound, he was more embarrassed about that than finishing up another good job pitching. He's a heck of a competitor and good athlete. The thing that surprised me this year and from what I heard and read on scouting reports about him is that he tends to be wild, and he's very seldom wild. He's had great command all year.

Q.What was the team like on the plane out today? Relaxed? Tight? Anything different you noticed?

DAVEY JOHNSON:This team is always relaxed when it's together. Just got makeup off the chart. Tremendous lovability, they enjoy being around each other. Just fun to be around and they enjoy the game of baseball.

Q.Going with Jackson in 3 and Detwiler, is that strictly because of the Cardinals' right handed lineup? Would you have flip flopped if you were playing the Braves?

DAVEY JOHNSON:I could have, but again, I kind of like the experience that Edwin Jackson brings. So I probably, even if it had been Atlanta, I would have probably gone with Jackson.